1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof and, more specifically, to a semiconductor device including a power semiconductor element and to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
A switching element such as an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) is applied to a semiconductor device used, for example, for driving an inverter of industrial equipment. Such a switching element is mounted as a semiconductor chip on a prescribed ceramic substrate. The ceramic substrate having such a semiconductor chip mounted thereon is placed on a heat-radiating plate for radiating heat generated from the semiconductor chip. Around the heat-radiating plate, an insert case is arranged to surround the ceramic substrate. The insert case is formed of resin such as PET-PBT (PolyEthylene Terephetalate)-(PolyButylene Terephtalate), PBT or PPS (PolyPhenylene Sulfide).
A terminal base for connecting the semiconductor device to external equipment is provided on the insert case. The terminal base has a portion provided for supporting (fixing) a nut and a main electrode terminal extending from the ceramic substrate. At this portion, a terminal such as a bus bar connected to the external equipment is to be fixed by a bolt or the like. A semiconductor device of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-314038.
The conventional semiconductor device, however, has the following problem. While reduction in manufacturing cost of the semiconductor devices has been demanded, the insert case of the semiconductor device described above is relatively expensive, and it is one factor that hinders reduction of manufacturing cost.